having a nero problem i just can't figure out. every time i start to write the dvd, it ejects my disk and tells me to insert an empty medium into the drive. it's not a problem with reading my drive, i'm able to burn cd's there just fine. could it be the dvd's i'm using? they're maxell dvd-r's. is there some format function i'm missing? lost on this one. thanks in advance, rob.
writer is the one that comes standard with Dell computers: NEC DVD-RW ND-1100A. Nero version 5.5.10.42. i tried record now MAX, and it basically does the same thing (tells me to insert a blank disc when there is one). the drive works great as far as burning cd's goes, could it be my dvd's? thanks again, rob
I'm just checking the obvious, but are -Rs the right media? It's just that when I search for your NEC drive I am finding specs for a +R writer.
ok, i'm going to feel really stupid if that's the problem. i thought i had done my homework, but i'm not aware of different types of dvd-r's. enlighten me, please. thanks, rob
I'm sure you will find lots of info about DVD-Rs and DVD+Rs in the guides on here. But I will give you MY opinion on the whole issue and then you can sit back and watch everyone else come on and disagree. There are two DVD writing formats fighting it out just now, just like VHS and Betamax did when video recorders came out. And, unfortunately, history looks as if it will repeat itself and the better format will lose out to the cheaper one. I have two PCs. One has a +R writer and one has a -R. I bought the +R writer first and, whatever brand of +R disc I buy, it works perfectly. People claim it is not as compatible in standalone players as -R but that's simply not true. I burn all my +Rs as Book Type DVD-ROM and they play in EVERY SINGLE machine I have ever put them in. Even ones that say they don't play +Rs. Compare that to when I bought my -R writer. I went through six different brands of -R discs, I'd say about 30 discs in total. Every single one of them suffered from picture break-up in my home DVD player and gave I/O errors in my Toshiba 1612 DVD-ROM drive. I had used so many blanks that I took the drive back at one point and got a replacement. But that was exactly the same. Eventually I settled on Verbatim DVD-Rs and they have solved the problems. So, IN MY OPINION, if you have a +R writer and you don't mind paying for quality you have bought the right type (although I am buying Verbatim -Rs at about £1.39 each, which is the same price as +R discs anyway). Go into any shop and you are likely to find they have only one brand of +R and five brands of -R. But that's only because of the amount of companies churning out cheap crap. If I had bought my -R burner first it's likely I would have given up burning altogether and returned it by now. So go out and buy a couple of DVD+Rs and make sure you have installed Nero 5 5 10 35 or later. Burn as DVD Video and put a tick in the "Book Type DVD-ROM" box that will appear on the Burn tab (it's not there with -Rs). Of course, that's after you read your manual to check what format your drive burns.
-Rs vs +Rs I have not had a -R Dvds with picture breakage or pixelation. Have had it with a +R on an older player that plays +RW perfectly. It just seems to have probs with +Rs. Hee Haw, perhaps those six brands of DVD-R you used were really inferior brands?
Perhaps they were, but that sort of proves my point about all the rubbish out there. Two were princos and the rest were Ritek. I used the red-top Datawrites that absolutely everyone seems to use and they were the worst of the bunch. I also used white Datawrites and some Ritek unbranded, but that's all I remember. The Ritek ones didn't have I/O errors, but they did have picture break-up, so the data was intact, but they were incompatible. I stick with Verbatim -Rs now, but can use the Datawrite +Rs no problem at all. It's always possible I got bad batches as well (on 6 different brands!) but that's a bit unfortunate for those manufacturers when I am evaluating their media because now I will never touch them again with a barge pole. Bugger. The button just came off my MS Blue mouse!!!!
Make sure you buy grade A discs as you could be put off a good make, only to find that it was grade B or lower discs you had been using. Clone Disc Ritek G04's sold by http://www.dvd-and-media.com are probably the best discs i have used to date. They are assured Grade A material. Im not sure about the blancdiscshop.co.uk or the bigpockets ones, though i doubt they are Grade A unless mentioed. Chris
thanks, hee haw, that did the trick. only one problem, where is the "dvd-rom" function? i have nero 5.5.10.42. thanks again, rob
If you follow the link that Oriphus has provided and jump to step 7 there are 2 pics. The 2nd pic, under the heading -"The next one, Dates is not needed, as is Misc. So click on burn and you will see the following."- is of the Burn tab in Nero. I am using version 5 5 10 35 and when using my +R drive a new tick box appears on this page. Perhaps with your later version it is an automatic function? Or perhaps it only appears if you choose a DVD-Video project, as I always do.
